Bin Laden raid member can be government witness in WikiLeaks case

Pfc. Bradley Manning went on trial this month over the biggest leak of classified material in American history. Manning admitted turning over hundreds of thousands of documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, pleading guilty earlier this year to charges that could bring 20 years behind bars. But the military pressed ahead with a court-martial on more serious charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.
Read more: Bradley Manning dumped info into enemy hands, prosecutor says

FORT MEADE, Md. A military judge cleared the way Wednesday for a member of the team that raided Osama bin Laden's compound to testify in the trial of an Army private charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets.

Col. Denise Lind ruled for the prosecution during a pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

The government said the witness, presumably a Navy SEAL, collected digital evidence showing that an associate of bin Laden provided the al Qaeda leader with documents Manning has acknowledged sending to the WikiLeaks website.

Manning pleaded guilty in February to lesser versions of some of the 22 charges he faces. Prosecutors have said they still intend to prove him guilty of the original charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum life sentence.

Manning testified that no one at WikiLeaks pressured him for more documents and that he knew what he did was wrong.

His court-martial is scheduled to start June 3 at Fort Meade.

The 25-year-old native of Crescent, Okla., is accused of sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables, other classified records and two battlefield video clips to WikiLeaks in 2009 and 2010 while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.

In a statement he read aloud in court Feb. 28, Manning said he sent the material to the anti-secrecy website to expose the American military's "bloodlust" and disregard for human life in Iraq and Afghanistan.